E.W. Blanch Vice Chairman Kaj Ahlmann has said he will step down at the end of the first quarter of 2001 in order to pursue other interests. Until then, Ahlmann will continue as a director, and will focus on the development of a special project called Markitas. This comes soon after an announcement that the company took a restructuring charge of approximately $9.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2000 related to its expense realignment program. The major components of the restructuring charge include contract terminations and employee severance payments. Under the program, management identified and divested non-performing or non-core assets and significantly lowered operating costs and corporate overhead. Blanch has not completed the anticipated sale of a non-core asset, and said there is no assurance that a sale would be consummated. As a result, the company currently anticipates a loss in the range of $0.24 to $0.34 per diluted share for fiscal year 2000.
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